Iraq on cusp of Mosul victory three years after major defeat

MOSUL, Iraq: Three years after the Islamic State group routed them in Mosul, Iraqi forces are now on the cusp of retaking the city from the Jihadists and avenging a historic debacle.

The fall of Mosul was the worst defeat that Iraqi forces suffered in the war with IS, and regaining it would cap a major turnaround for security forces that broke and ran despite outnumbering the Jihadists who attacked the second city in 2014.

“Of course, we celebrate the successes of the military” three years after the city’s fall, said Staff Lieutenant General Abdulghani al-Assadi, a senior commander in Iraq’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service, which has spearheaded the battle.

When IS seized Mosul on June 10, 2014 and drove south toward the federal capital, the atmosphere was not one of celebration, but rather fear.

“Three years ago, around this time, Daesh... was moving rapidly towards Baghdad,” said Brett McGurk, the US envoy to the international coalition against IS, using an Arabic acronym for the Jihadist group.